Front Page Woman

Ellen Garfield (Bette Davis) is a neophyte reporter with ambitions big enough to take on assignments usually reserved for men, including the execution of a woman convicted of murder (which causes her to faint). Curt Devlin (George Brent) is a newshawk for a rival paper who likes Ellen a lot, but not her career plans. The two keep crossing paths and tripping each other

Overview

Ellen Garfield (Bette Davis) is a neophyte reporter with ambitions big enough to take on assignments usually reserved for men, including the execution of a woman convicted of murder (which causes her to faint). Curt Devlin (George Brent) is a newshawk for a rival paper who likes Ellen a lot, but not her career plans. The two keep crossing paths and tripping each other up, mostly by accident, with Curt's photographer pal Toots O'Grady (Roscoe Karns) keeping score. Curt would like to romance Ellen, but wants her to give up on being a reporter; and she won't give up until she proves she's as good a reporter as any man, including Curt. And when a routine fire that they're both covering turns into a case of disappearance and murder involving a well-known Broadway producer, they end up going head-to-head on both the manhunt for the presumed killer and the trial that follows.

Advertising

Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Bruce Eder

A comedy-drama with lots of action and a breakneck pace, Front Page Woman would have been a credit to Joan Blondell or almost any other star in the Warner Bros. stable -- except Bette Davis, who is absolutely delightful (and gorgeous) in the role of Ellen Garfield, the would-be hardboiled reporter, but who also obviously had bigger dramatic fish to fry. She and George Brent make an appealing pair of friendly rivals in the newspaper game, and Roscoe Karns steals almost every scene he's in as Brent's fast-talking photographer buddy -- and he manages to stand out even in a movie where everyone talks fast. Director Michael Curtiz shows his skill at storytelling in just about every frame of Front Page Woman, with rapid-fire dialogue and shots and action that rush by with the pacing of real-life, and also enough comic touches, overt and subtle, to keep the audience amused at several levels. (The title itself is something of an "in" joke -- does it refer to Davis's reporter or to Winifred Shaw's missing murder witness, Inez Cordova?). The plot and the comedy rush by so fast -- without time for any breaks for songs (even from Shaw), despite several backstage sequences -- that there is hardly any time for mistakes. And even sharp-eyed viewers may miss the presence of future Edward D. Wood, Jr. alumnus Tor Johnson in a tiny role. Credit should also go to editor Terrell O. Morse for Front Page Woman's effectiveness -- the tightness of the cutting keeps anyone from losing their willing suspension of disbelief, and help make this film -- not a terribly great of important movie, or brilliant cinema -- a whole lot of fun, and a genial showcase for the three leads.